使用警語:中文譯文來源為 Google 翻譯,僅供參考,實際內容請以英文原文為主
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for standing by.
Welcome to the Astro-Med, Inc.
fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2010 earnings release conference call.
(Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the conference over to Stanley Berger.
Please go ahead, sir.
- Investor Relations
Thank you, Jeremy.
On behalf of the management of Astro-Med, we are extremely pleased that you have taken the time to participate in our conference call.
Thank you for joining us to discuss the Company's fiscal 2010 fourth quarter and full year financial results and business outlook.
Before I introduce management, I would like to remind everyone that certain statements made during the course of this conference call, especially those that state management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions for the future are forward-looking statements.
During this conference call, we may make forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
These statements are based on the Company's present expectations and beliefs concerning future events and are necessarily based on certain assumptions, which are subject to risk and uncertainties.
Actual results may differ materially from those discussed here.
More information on these risks is included in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
By now, you should have received a copy of the news release, which was issued yesterday after the market closed.
If you have not received a copy, please go to our website at www.astro-medinc.com, where a copy of the press release can be downloaded from the investing section of our home page.
Hosting the call today are Albert Ondis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Everett Pizzuti, President and Chief Operating Officer and Joe O'Connell, Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer.
At this time, I will turn the call over to Mr.
Ondis.
Albert.
- Chairman & CEO
Thank you, Stanley, and let me add my thanks as well as those you who have extended to participants.
As you know, Everett Pizzuti, President and Chief Operating Officer is here with me, along with Joseph O'Connell, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and a very happy son of the old sod on this St.
Patrick's Day with his green tie on.
They will each make brief presentations and join me in answering questions.
As you probably know from the press release we made yesterday, we saw a significant increase in the new orders in the fourth quarter.
And particularly for consumable items.
And this news, plus the reports that we're getting from both our domestic and our international salespeople, lead us to some positive thoughts about the era we're now entering.
Our consumables business has been gaining momentum from the past -- over the past several quarters.
And although there are some signs that capital equipment purchases are beginning to increase, this part of our business will be the last to strengthen in our opinion.
And of course, most of our new products are capital equipment, and Everett will be speaking of them in a couple of minutes.
So, although we are optimistic for us, the great recession is not yet over, signs are looking good.
A few points I would like to make, as you know, we completed an acquisition on December 15, 2009, three months ago, and that company, previously known as Label Line, has been fully integrated, into our QuickLabel Systems group, and so it no longer stands as a separate company.
It will add both revenue and profits to the Company beginning in the first quarter.
The integration of that company into QuickLabel Systems, was very smooth, although it was very comprehensive, involving every part of the acquired company.
I am proud of how smoothly our people completed the acquisition, and I am pleased that the personnel of the acquired company was so receptive to the change and to the improvements that we made in that company.
That acquisition was made in accordance with our three year strategic plan, and we are continuing to execute that plan.
Early this summer, we will convene the group which developed the plan last year, and we will present them with results of the first year, and we will then ask them to recast the strategic plan, adding a new third year.
But we will do this each year, to keep the strategic plan ever current.
I'd like to comment also on two announcements that we made yesterday.
Firstly, we announced guidance on the new fiscal year, which we call fiscal year 2011.
We expect revenues will be in the range of $71 million to $73 million, and earnings to range between $0.35 to $0.40 per diluted share.
I wish we could be a little more precise, but a significant part of our revenue will be from the shipment of Ruggedized Airborne printers we sometimes call cockpit printers, and those shipments will flow from the manufacture of new airplanes such as the Boeing 787, the Airbus A380, the Airbus A400, the Bombardier 145, and others.
While we actually have that business, the schedule to produce and ship the printers is dependent on the schedule of the Boeings and the Airbuses, and others who will be making the airplanes.
So, that those of you who are watching the rollout of these new airplanes know that the schedules are a bit fluid, if that's the right word.
So, we will see how it rolls out.
But, the schedule, the forecast that I have given you, the guidance that I have given you, is the best that we can do at the moment.
The second announcement we made yesterday relates to our dividend policy.
Our board decided that we could and should increase the dividend from $0.06 per quarter per share to $0.07 per quarter per share.
We feel that our outlook is very bright.
We have sufficient cash on hand to carry out our aggressive plans.
So hence, returning more to the shareholders is the right and proper thing to do.
With these thoughts in mind, I am now going to ask Everett Pizzuti to continue the conference, and then Joe O'Connell will give his report and then we'll take your questions.
So with that I will ask Everett to join in.
Everett?
- President & COO
Thank you, Albert, and good morning, everyone.
Some of the highlights of the fourth quarter include the highest order bookings of the year, successful completion of an acquisition, the introductions of new products, the expansion of field sales, and the completion of building expansion here in Rhode Island based media production plant.
Regarding the bookings, we are pleased that bookings for all three product groups were up over previous year, and domestic as well as international orders were up by double digits.
Test & Measurement booked a $1.5 million order for ruggedized products in January, as we previously announced in a news release.
Grass booked its first orders for the new S12X Cortical Stimulator.
The S12X was officially introduced at the American Epilepsy Society meeting in December of last year, and that took place in Boston.
This product has a list price of over $25,000, but it is in such demand that it draws customers to purchase our long term epilepsy monitoring systems for which it is designed to be used.
And our consumable bookings, especially for use in QuickLabel color printing systems, continued to rise as an indicator of improvements in the economy.
In accordance with our strategic business plan, we closed our first acquisition in December, with the purchase of Label Line, a manufacturer of flexographic and offset printed labels and they're located in North Carolina.
We are currently busy with the integration to install proven Astro-Med manufacturing, financial sales software systems at this new facility with all programs centrally controlled by our Rhode Island-based IT systems.
Salespeople have been consolidated under our Rhode Island-based sales manager, and manufacturing reports to Vice President of Manufacturing here at headquarters.
In addition to the introduction of the Grass Cortical Stimulator, we continued with the production of two new T&M products, the TMX Data Acquisition recording system, and the ToughWriter 5 printer, for use in cockpits and cabins of aircraft.
Meanwhile, our Research and Development staff is busy with additional new products for all three product groups, some of which will be introduced in the second half of our new fiscal year.
Our strategic plan for growth includes expanding our field sales force.
In the quarter, we hired additional field salespersons for QLS in the UK and France, and we're now in the process of hiring an additional QLS person for sales in our Canada office.
We also hired an additional field salesperson for Grass in our Canadian branch.
In the quarter, we also continued our plan for increasing the staff in Research and Development, with the additional hire (inaudible).
In January, we completed the expansion of our media manufacturing plant here in Rhode Island, with an additional 10,000 square feet of space which will be dedicated primarily to label production, paving the way for our anticipated increased sales of labels and other printer consumables.
Also on the label, consumable front, we finalized our plans to add label production to our offices in Frankfurt and Montreal.
This will enable us to expand our sales with the advantages of local manufacturer, that gives our customers quick service, and at very competitive prices.
We expect both new manufacturing locations to be up and running in the second quarter.
As is evident by our investments in additional staffing, plant expansion, and new products, we are continuing to take positive steps to increase sales in the new year, as well as in the years to come.
Albert, that's my brief report.
- Chairman & CEO
Thank you, Everett.
Let's now hear from Joseph.
- SVP & CFO
Thank you, Albert, and the top of the morning to everyone.
I'm very pleased to share with you Astro-Med's financial results for the fourth quarter and for the annual results for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2010.
The Company sales in the fourth quarter were $16.281 million.
That's a 4% improvement over the sales revenues for the prior year's fourth quarter.
Sales through our domestic channels were $10.8 million and matched the prior year's sales volume, while our export shipments at $5.5 million bettered the previous year's fourth quarter export sales by some 14%.
Favorable foreign exchange contributed some $395,000 to the export sales growth in the fourth quarter.
The prime drivers for the fourth quarter sales growth as you heard with the sales of our -- the Company's consumable product lines.
Here the revenues reached nearly approximately $8 million which represents an 18% -- approximately an 18% improvement over the prior year's sales.
If we profile the fourth quarter sales by product group, QuickLabel systems was first at $8.9 million, representing a growth rate of 14.5% over the prior year.
Grass Technologies was next with $4.3 million, that was lower than the prior year by some 6%.
And rounding it out was Test & Measurement including ruggedized products with $3 million, was below last year by 6.5%.
Astro-Med's gross profit margins in the quarter were virtually flat with the prior year at 41.8%.
Although the gross profit dollars at $6.8 million, were up approximately 4% over the prior year's gross profit dollars.
We continue to manage expenses very closely, with spending in the secondary accounts including selling, R&D, G&A combined at $6.2 million and were flat with the prior year.
Operating income as a result in the quarter was $1.967 million, including the gains from the litigation of $1.391 million, realized in the fourth quarter.
Excluding the litigation gain, operating income in the quarter was some $576,000.
That represents a $262,000 or 83% improvement over the prior year's operating income in that fourth quarter.
Other income in the quarter was a $134,000, that's a sharp improvement over the prior year's other expense of $49,000.
In addition to the investment income and some foreign exchange losses, this quarter's other income includes the gain associated with the purchase in North Carolina as was referenced earlier.
The Company's effective tax rate in the fourth quarter was 18%, with a corresponding tax provision of $373,000.
Included in that provision is a tax benefit of $335,000, which pertains to some previously uncertain tax positions.
The Company earned $1.728 million in net income during the quarter, representing an earnings per diluted share of 23%, $0.23, excuse me.
Excluding these nonrecurring items in the quarter, net income would total $377,000 equal to $0.05 per diluted share.
For the corresponding quarter in the previous year, the Company earned $263,000 or $0.04 per diluted share.
Prior to reviewing the balance sheet, a brief comment on Astro-Med's full year results are as follows.
Sales revenues for the year were $64 million, that's lower than the prior year sales of $71.8 million.
Unfavorable foreign currency exchange rates reduced fiscal 2010 annual sales by approximately $744,000.
Sales through our domestic channels were $44.3 million while export shipments were just under $20 million.
The revenue distribution by product group has QuickLabel systems, at $33.3 million, Grass Technology at $16.5 million, and Test & Measurement, including Ruggedized, at $14.2 million for the year.
Operating income for the year was $3.354 million, reflecting an operating margin of 5.2%.
Including the gain on the litigation, this year's operating income is $1.963 million with a 3% margin on sales.
Our effective tax rate for fiscal 2010 is 25%, it's an outgrowth of the one-time non-recurring tax benefits we realized this year.
Our net income for the year was $2.766 million, representing some $0.38 per diluted share.
This compares to a net income of $2.964 million or $0.40 per diluted share earned in the prior year.
Excluding this year's nonrecurring items, net income was $1.415 million, equal to $0.19 per diluted share.
We closed out the year with a strong balance sheet, including our cash position at $23.76 million, that represents a 7% increase from the prior year end.
We lowered both our accounts receivable and our inventory dollars from the previous years and improved our turnover in both.
Our accounts receivable moved from 50 days to 49 days sales outstanding, and our inventory days on hand moved from 127 days last year to 114 days for the current year end.
We spent approximately $2.6 million on capital expenditures during fiscal 2010, and we distributed $1.713 million in cash dividends at the rate of $0.24 per share.
The Company's book value per share at the year end was $7.52, a slight improvement over the prior year and our employee population stood at a little over 400 persons at year-end, with a sales per employee of $165,000 per person.
That completes a review of the financials for the fourth quarter and for the year.
Albert?
- Chairman & CEO
Thank you, Joe.
Jeremy, we are ready to take questions.
Operator
All right.
Just give me one moment, sir.
- Chairman & CEO
Okay.
Operator
(Operator Instructions).
- Analyst
Hi guys, this is Steve Busch.
Can you hear me?
- Chairman & CEO
Yes, we can, Steve.
- Analyst
Okay.
Usually you have to push pound one or something.
Quick question.
That was a great number, good use of your acquisition, nice to see it's already being accretive.
My main question, really my only question was your revenue guidance.
You were talking about the Ruggedized printers in Boeing et cetera, does your guidance include some minimal or set amount of sales from this?
- Chairman & CEO
Yes, it does, Steve.
We are --
- Analyst
Okay.
- Chairman & CEO
We have taken our best shot at estimating how many planes they will actually deliver, and therefore how many printers we will will be asked to build and ship.
So --
- Analyst
Right.
And so would you guess, you know more likely, to be upside or downside revision to that number?
Obviously it is a catch because you don't know.
But --
- Chairman & CEO
Well, we took our best shot at this, and we are not prepared to say that there are any real upside or downside potentials.
Naturally, when you do something like this you try not to be surprised in the downward direction, but there's a little --
- Analyst
Right.
Some people don't do it that way.
- Chairman & CEO
Well, you try your best.
- Analyst
Okay.
That was a great number.
Thank you.
- Chairman & CEO
Thank you, Steve.
- Analyst
Albert?
- Chairman & CEO
Yes.
- Analyst
[Sam Koenig], how are you?
- Chairman & CEO
Good.
Good.
How are you?
- Analyst
Pretty good.
Great quarter, great quarter.
I want to ask you two things, most of the printer orders, two questions, basically three.
First question is most of the printer orders, are they with the Boeing or Airbus?
Have you gotten any other airlines which have ordered the printer?
- Chairman & CEO
Yes.
We have printer orders from a number of companies.
Not all of them are directly from the primary airplane companies.
They usually are from what they refer to as their first tier subcontractors, and Everett, do you want to pick up on that?
- President & COO
Well, in addition to the Boeing that we announced, we did get some other smaller contracts from Lockheed Martin, and some other smaller companies, for use in regional and commercial jets.
- Chairman & CEO
But in our backlog, we have --
- President & COO
But in our backlog we have a range of orders from prime contractors, or tier one contractors such as Honeywell, Rockwell --
- Chairman & CEO
And Sagem for the Airbus.
- President & COO
And Sagem for the Airbus.
So --
- Analyst
It's pretty diverse.
- President & COO
It's pretty diverse and some of them are commercial aircraft and some are military aircraft, such as the C17 and the A400M, which as you may have read, the A400M finally made its first maiden flights, test flights, and there's speculation the U.S.
will invest in that aircraft as well.
- Analyst
My second question and I'll combine it with the third question is this.
Regarding the sleep products, sleeping (inaudible) product, I was just wondering whether you, two questions.
One is, number one is whether you partner with any larger medical companies, to distribute it or anything of that sort, or are you distributing it yourself or is that going to product?
It might be in a better phase to be able to sell it with a larger medical company.
And second of all, do you plan any further stock buybacks because in terms of dividends, a lot of people are going to be hit with a lot of increase?
A lot of boards have got to weigh whether you're going to increase the dividends which might result in higher taxation rates the next few years to shareholders, and weigh that against further share buybacks instead, which will have a better impact long-run on shareholders which is going to be the more important question as we go, as we proceed in the next few years.
- Chairman & CEO
I can answer the question on the Grass.
We sell directly, we don't use any intermediaries, we sell directly with our own direct field sales force here in the United States.
We have our own sales force, in Canada as well as in Europe.
And we also provide our own direct service, we have own our service people.
Then in the other parts of the world, we do use independent dealers or representatives.
So in answer to your question, we don't use -- we don't have any alliances with any other medical companies.
And it's not typical to do that with our kind of products.
- Analyst
Thank you.
And in regard to the second question?
- Chairman & CEO
Concerning the stock buyback, we have the authority to do it and we're just going to see what flows, what transpires from the increase in dividend that we've made and also to see what impact our results for the first couple of quarters will be.
But we are prepared, we have the authority and we have the cash, so we think it makes sense, we would certainly under take it.
- Analyst
Albert, this is Steve Busch again.
- Analyst
Depends on the quarter.
- Analyst
Just a follow up to that, Albert.
I noticed you bought back options from some of the management?
- Chairman & CEO
Say again?
- Analyst
You bought back options from some of the management?
- Chairman & CEO
Yes.
We did purchase the options of a couple of people.
And in my case, I used some shares that I owned to acquire an additional 17,000 shares.
So I have
- Analyst
Right.
- Chairman & CEO
I have increased my ownership.
- Analyst
So you're doing a buyback through the back door.
- Chairman & CEO
Yes.
- Analyst
Because you're not diluting, there's more by buying back the options.
So it seems to be a pretty good price.
- Chairman & CEO
Yes, exactly right.
These options were about to expire, by the way.
- Analyst
Right.
- Chairman & CEO
As a matter of fact they expired, will expire on the 20th of March.
- Analyst
I understand.
- Chairman & CEO
That was why we undertook to take the step that we did.
- Analyst
This is Joe First, a question.
- Chairman & CEO
Yes, good morning, Joe.
- Analyst
Good morning.
I thought your backlog as far as the Ruggedized printers are concerned with the airlines, can you give us some idea of what that is?
I know it's over quite a few years but what kind of backlog is there for that?
- President & COO
Well if you talk in terms of the contracts that we have in hand, it is about 140,000, 140 million.
But we don't count that in the backlog until we get the release orders.
We have release orders in place from all of the airlines or contractors that we mentioned a few moments ago, that carries us through probably through November or December of this year.
They typically place their delivery orders with us, four or five months in advance.
So, every week we get delivery orders from the --
- Analyst
How (inaudible) are you?
Hello.
Cut -- Are you there?
I got cut off.
- Analyst
And -- hello?
- Chairman & CEO
Hi Joe, I don't know if you got that answer.
- Analyst
I missed the end of it because somebody got on, and I don't know what happened.
- Chairman & CEO
The basic situation is that we have this enormous unrecorded backlog, we have the contracts, but we don't --
- Analyst
Right.
- Chairman & CEO
-- take it into our backlog until we get a release, a definite shipping day.
- Analyst
Right.
- Chairman & CEO
So, we're getting these definite shipping days constantly.
We keep getting releases.
As a matter of fact, we got I just happen to know that yesterday we got a release for four more printers for the month of August, just to give you a flavor of how that works.
- Analyst
Okay.
- Chairman & CEO
That now goes into the backlog.
But the parent contract from which that release came, is not officially in our backlog.
But as Everett says, we believe the value of the contracts that we have is in excess of close to $150 million.
- Analyst
Good.
And then just one other question, and comment.
Your estimated earnings for this year coming up represent almost 100% increase over this year when you adjust out the special items which is exceptionally good.
But even at that level, you'll be back up to where you were a year ago, and the return on equity, I believe, is somewhere around 5%, which really isn't acceptable.
And I wondered what kind of goals do you have as far as trying to get your business up to earn an amount that's a more reasonable return on equity?
- Chairman & CEO
Well, we have been, we have been, Joe do you want to --
- SVP & CFO
Sure.
No, that's a fair question, Joe.
I think what we've done on a number of fronts, obviously the top line is the key driver to be able to get the return.
We think we've, we can do a couple of things.
We obviously try to continue to introduce new products, which is will drive the top line.
We've also continued to manage the working capital, continue to reduce the investment that we have, if you will, in the working capital assets so that the return will improve, and at the same time we continue to look to be able to lower the manufacturing costs of especially the hardware products.
Those are the variables that we continue to drive to be able to improve the return on equity.
I think it is very successful and certainly as the growth of business will indicate that that will allow us to be able to improve the return and get it up, as you say, certainly to a much more appropriate level of return.
- Analyst
Sure.
And also as the previous gentleman mentioned, buying back your own stock would reduce the capitalization and also improve the return on equity also.
- SVP & CFO
That's another tool as you say, another option for us to consider.
So we have a lot of things on the table, and the point is we are continuing to focus on each one of them to make sure that we maximize the opportunities that are available to us.
- Analyst
And you are still looking for other acquisitions?
- Chairman & CEO
Yes, we are.
Yes, we are.
- Analyst
Good.
And you have over $3 a share in cash to either buy back stock or make acquisitions too.
So you have plenty to do that.
Well keep up the good efforts.
We appreciate it.
- Chairman & CEO
Thank you, Joe.
- SVP & CFO
Thank you, Joe.
- Analyst
Good morning, gentlemen.
This is Dennis Scannell from Rutabaga.
- President & COO
Hi Dennis.
- Chairman & CEO
Good morning, Dennis.
- Analyst
I thought I would throw in a few quick questions.
What was your fiscal year end backlog, in terms of what it's stated at?
I'm not sure I got that number.
- Chairman & CEO
About six million.
- SVP & CFO
That's exactly right, Dennis.
A little shy of that.
About 5.6, I think.
- Analyst
Okay.
And then looking at the guidance for the next fiscal year, I guess we would take your starting point at 64 million for the most recent fiscal year, we'd add in nearly what, an incremental 5 million in sales from the LabelLine acquisition --
- SVP & CFO
Yes.
- Analyst
Is this that the way to think of it?
And then there would be modest incremental, 2% to 3% to 4% growth on top of that?
Is that the way the fiscal year is shaping up for you?
- Chairman & CEO
That's right, pretty reasonable.
- Analyst
And would that growth be pretty evenly split between the three businesses or any place where you would see some concerns about future softness or future strength on the positive side?
- Chairman & CEO
We are expecting a little more growth from our Grass group.
Looking at each of the major contributors to growth, we believe that this year we'll see a little more growth from our Grass group than probably from, for example, our Test & Measurement, but all three we expect will grow.
- Analyst
Okay.
- Chairman & CEO
And we are forecasting each of them will make a significant contribution to the additional growth.
But we do see, and the reason is because the hospitals, who are the principle customers of Grass Products, have gone through a couple of years of very, very low purchasing because of their decline in their assets and resources and their endowments.
Now we begin to see signs that they really need to start replacing and adding new equipment, and that's why we feel a little more optimistic about the Grass possibilities than we do the others.
- Analyst
Okay.
Okay.
With consumables strong in the fourth quarter, up 18% I think, year over year, so the equipment side, the capital equipment side was down.
Is that right?
Down modestly or --
- Chairman & CEO
Yes.
Down modestly, right.
- SVP & CFO
And that's the, that's the point Albert made earlier but just that right now, the capital is still lagging behind.
- Chairman & CEO
Still lagging behind.
- SVP & CFO
The capital expenditures folks are still a little reluctant, a little bit -- very close to the vest right now on buying any capital equipment.
- Chairman & CEO
But they're using what they've got, because they're buying a lot of consumables.
- Analyst
And as you look forward into the January 2011 fiscal year, do you expect the capital spending to stay relatively depressed with your customers, and for the sales growth that you are expecting to come more on the consumable side, or will we see a pick up on the capital?
- Chairman & CEO
Well, we've got some really very, to us, exciting new products, that are capital equipments that we are going to be launching particularly beginning mid-year this year.
And for that reason, I think we believe that we will see a good uptick in capital purchases this year, but it may still trail a little bit from prior years.
- Analyst
Yes.
Okay.
- Chairman & CEO
But the excitement that we have for these new products is really quite consuming.
We think that once the customers see them, that there will begin a whole new round of purchasing.
- Analyst
Terrific.
And then one last thing, just a minor thing.
As we look into fiscal 2011, what sort of level of capital spending should we expect?
- SVP & CFO
What normally -- probably, I would guess similar to fiscal 2010.
I think we're probably historically we've tried to match the depreciation, but this year with the acquisition, if you will, we're up a little higher.
And as Everett mentioned earlier, we are going to be making some investment in machinery and equipment, in both Montreal and Frankfurt.
So, I would guess we are probably looking at between maybe 2.5 million I would guess.
- Analyst
Okay.
And then, that 2.6 million for the most recent fiscal year, did that include the acquisition price?
Or --
- SVP & CFO
No.
Well, there was some equipment that related to that.
- Chairman & CEO
Yes, just the equipment.
- SVP & CFO
Just equipment to that, then.
- Chairman & CEO
But we put a -- we did some construction here, to our building, and that was about -- it was over one million, wasn't it?
1.2.
- Analyst
Okay.
Yes, because it was higher in the fourth quarter than I would have thought.
- SVP & CFO
Right.
- Analyst
What was the acquisition price for LevelLine?
- Chairman & CEO
Well, with the consent -- at the request of the seller, they asked us not to announce it publicly for the first year.
We'll announce it later.
- Analyst
Okay.
And that was all cash, no stocks?
- Chairman & CEO
It was all cash.
- Analyst
And --
- Chairman & CEO
There is a small earnout, but principally cash.
- Analyst
Okay.
Terrific.
I thought I had one other thing.
But, I will turn it over to somebody else.
Thanks again, and good luck in the current fiscal year.
- SVP & CFO
Thanks.
- Chairman & CEO
Thanks, Dennis.
Jeremy, are you still there?
Operator
I am, sir.
- Chairman & CEO
Any other questioners?
Operator
(Operator Instructions).
- Analyst
Hi.
Good morning.
Operator
Hello.
- Analyst
Yes, good morning.
My name's Tony Chiarenza with Key Equity Investors.
Just a quick question on gross margins, I guess we have talked about sales growth and improving return on equity, but can you comment a little bit about what your plan is for gross margins and do you expect it to expand over the next two or three years as you implement your plan?
- SVP & CFO
We certainly do.
In some respects they're a little depressed right now because as you hear, the margins we get on the capital on the hardware really is a lot better than we get on the consumables.
So, as that shift occurs, as we see demand pick up on the hardware items and the printers if you will and the Grass technologies, as well as the printers in Test & Measurement, we should see an improvement in the gross profit margin.
Our goal has been to get it to at least to 45%, but again with the uncertainties right now in the economy, that's going to take a little bit of time to get there.
- Analyst
I understand.
Thank you.
- Chairman & CEO
Our budget is (inaudible on slightly below 45, isn't it, Joe?
- SVP & CFO
Yes, yes.
We are as I said, it's very predictable.
You'll see, if you look at it historically, as our hardware moves, the margin moves up very nicely.
- Analyst
And the best margins, which one of your businesses has really the best margins you would consider at this point?
- SVP & CFO
We don't actually break out the individual.
We do break them out from a segment operating profit standpoint.
Historically, you can see this in our K, the Grass Technology is -- probably on an operating margin basis, probably has a better return than Test & Measurement and QuickLabel Systems.
But QuickLabel Systems, because of it's growth opportunities continues to improve in that margin.
- Analyst
Thank you.
- SVP & CFO
Okay.
Thank you.
- Analyst
Gentlemen, this is Dennis Scannell again.
I thought I would just throw out one last one.
I probably should read through press releases and see what this was but what was the gain on litigation, what did that involve?
- Chairman & CEO
It was about, the it was a lawsuit that we instituted three years ago, against a former employee and the company that hired him contrary to a no compete agreement that he had signed, and which the company that hired him was aware of.
They violated the agreement, and we brought suit against them and in a jury trial, which lasted about a week, we were victorious.
They appealed it, and the appellate court upheld the judgment and we finally received the money after the fiscal year ended.
So our balance sheet does not reflect the cash from that judgment, Dennis.
You will see that in the balance sheet at the end of the first quarter.
- Analyst
Perfect.
That's good news, congratulations.
- Chairman & CEO
We felt that we really upheld the sanctity of our no compete agreement.
We believe we have a very ethical standard of operation.
We make deals with all kinds of people, customers, and employees.
We always keep our part of the deal, and we expect others to keep their part.
And when they don't, we come down like a hammer.
- Analyst
Perfectly reasonable.
- Chairman & CEO
That's the way we operate.
- Analyst
That sounds terrific.
Thank you.
- Chairman & CEO
Thank you, Dennis.
Operator
(Operator Instructions).
- Chairman & CEO
Well, if not, we'll terminate our teleconference.
And we thank you one and all for participating.
- President & COO
Thank you.
- Chairman & CEO
And we will talk to you again, I guess in May.
Thank you, again.
Bye now.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the Astro-Med, Inc.
fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2010 earnings release conference call.
If you would like to listen to a replay of today's conference, please dial 1-800-406-7325, for international participants 1-303-590-3030, and enter the access code 421-9982 followed by the pound key.
The replay will be available until March 24, 2010.
ACT would like to thank you for your participation.
You may now disconnect.